This disclosure relates generally to social networking systems, and more specifically to recommending a group to a user of a social networking system.
A social networking system allows its users to connect to and communicate with other social networking system users. Users may create profiles on a social networking system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. The users may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. Because of the popularity of social networking systems and the significant amount of user-specific information maintained by social networking systems, a social networking system provides an ideal forum for allowing users to create and join various groups of users sharing common interests (e.g., recreational hobbies, occupational backgrounds, political viewpoints, etc.) maintained by the social networking system.
Groups that are maintained by a social networking system are associated with subject matter that is common to social networking system users that are members of the same group. For example, subject matter associated with groups include interests, associations, affiliations, and/or any other characteristics common to a group of users. For example, members of a group may share a common workplace, a favorite celebrity, or a religious view. Groups enable social networking system users to easily connect to and communicate with additional social networking system users belonging to the same group, for example, by posting content to the group, by participating in group discussions, etc.
A social networking system may select one or more groups of which a user of the social networking system is not a member but which the user is likely to have an interest in joining, and recommend that the viewing user join the group(s). For example, if a user is associated with a user profile that indicates the user is located in Hollywood, Calif. and that the user's interests include singing and acting, the social networking system may recommend that the user join a theater group and an acapella group associated with geographic locations near Hollywood, Calif. A recommendation to join a group may include various types of information that may help a user to decide whether to join the group as well as an option to request to join the group. For example, a recommendation to join a group may include the name of the group, a geographic location associated with the group, an image associated with the group (e.g., a group logo), a purpose or mission statement of the group, a number of members in the group, and a “join” button enabling the user to submit a request to the social networking system to join the group.
Social networking system users are more likely to join a group if they know someone who is already a member of the group. However, users may not always be aware of whether their friends, family members, or other users to which they are connected on the social networking system are members of a group. For example, although a user whose hobbies include playing video games may be interested in joining a group for video game enthusiasts that is suggested by the social networking system, the user may decide against requesting to join the group if they are not aware that their friends recently became members of the group. Additionally, social networking system users that are interested in joining groups to make new friends may not join groups suggested by the social networking system if the users do not seem likely to have much in common with members of the groups. For example, a young social networking system user interested in learning how to knit may refrain from requesting to join a knitting group with members of all ages if the user assumes that the members of the group will be much older than they are. Absent information identifying current members of a group to which a user is connected and/or to which a user is likely to have an affinity in a recommendation to join the group, the user may decide against joining the group or otherwise reduce their interaction with the social networking system.